Mythbusters tackled double dipping. The results were a bit surprising…
Only if you leave a really nice tip.
Wait, so I want a ruling on this-- suppose I’m eating mozzarella sticks and dipping them in marinara, as you suggest, and I begin by dipping a stick and biting off the bottom half. Then I flip it over, hold it by the bitten end, and dip the unbitten end back in the marinara. At no point has a part of the cheese stick with my bite marks touched the marinara. Are my hands intrinsically germy enough that that merely dunking a part of the stick that I’ve handled is contaminating? Or is this an acceptable culinary practice (at least at my next party, if not a state dinner)?
If you left a tip, the chocolate must have been too hot for people to eat anyway.
“If I had known it was going to be that kind of party, I’d have stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes!”
I’d say that’s clearly in-bounds of proper dipping etiquette. If your hands are already intrinsically germy enough that merely handling it is contaminating, there shouldn’t be any shared dipping allowed period.
I think this is fine among family or close friends, but not for a less intimate gathering (work party, first meeting with the in-laws, etc.).
lives a happy carefree life unencumbered by lysol-fueled fears of germ warfare
You would think a perpetual chocolate fountain would gross me out. It’s at a great temp for incubating germs and the chocolate is basically one giant microbe food source but I find myself unmoved by images of kids with runny noses dipping their marshmallows in after each bite. Perhaps I will die someday slowly and painfully from a lingering brain-eating bacteria contracted from improperly sanitized chocolate fountains but I imagine I’ll get run over by a bus long before than.
Yeesh, when I first saw the commercial, I was left with the impression that they brought a small one to your table, like a fondue pot.
My cousin had a chocolate fountain at his wedding, and that was nice, but at some budget restaurant? Uh…I think I’ll pass.
That might be the least of your worries (YouTube).
This thread was my first introduction to the Golden Corral and it sounds nasty. I don’t like chocolate enough to be enticed by a chocolate fountain. I agree that places like Hometown Buffet and Family Buffet can be pretty damn disgusting with substandard food and cleanliness.
I will admit to going to our local Chinese Buffet though. The food is really good. It’s really small and there are usually only 2 or 3 other tables occupied when we go there. The food is changed regularly.
I miss York Steak House. It was in the Auburn Mall when I was growing up and my mom even worked there for a while. Again, it was small. I think small is the key with a buffet.
I only like Chinese buffets that are busy. If it’s busy, then you know the food is getting replaced. And if it’s busy, that means the food probably isn’t that bad (on the tastebuds…health is a different matter).
I’m also a bit prejudiced. If I see some Asian folks in there, that also makes me feel better. The place that I go to always has a lot of Asian diners. Maybe the restaurant owners hires some to bring in prejudiced people like me.
Huh. I never thought of that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Asian diners in there. Hell, one of the waitresses is white!!
Our place doesn’t put out large portions of food, I’m assuming because they know they’re not very busy. So, even at slow times, the food gets changed regularly.
Yechh. It’s primarily Chinese buffets I have been to (they’re everywhere around here), and IME they’re universally awful. I mean it’s edible, probably more so than a place like Golden Corral (to me at least, YMMV), but the quality of the food is still pretty low; low enough that I’m probably not going to eat enough to get $25 worth of food, $25 that would get me a very good meal at any number of other better-quality restaurants.
And don’t be fooled if there are a large number of Asians in there; a lot of us tend toward the cheap side. 
Yes the fountain sounds gross, but that commercial is so irritating. There’s this guy that says “I’ve loved chocolate since I was a kid.”
Really, dude? You liked chocolate as a kid? That’s amazing. And you still like it now? Gosh, you must really like chocolate. It’s so rare these days to hear of someone loving chocolate as a kid AND still liking it well into their adulthood. It’s a good thing you found this flowing chocolate slurry at Golden Corral so you can partake in this lifelong passion of yours unencumbered and free.
I find the thought of it absolutely horrifying, going by the behavior I have observed at buffets. It is now to the point the only buffets I will go to are the ones in a casino, where there are no small kids, and the food is changed out frequently. Many casino buffets also have multiple food stations, so it isn’t just all tossed out onto untended tables, you get a server tending each station and they make sure people do not cross contaminate the foods.
I love a well done fondue, at home - whether a classic swiss cheese one, a chocolate one or a japanese shabu-shabu.
[QUOTE=DCnDC]
And don’t be fooled if there are a large number of Asians in there; a lot of us tend toward the cheap side. 
[/QUOTE]
I live in Alabama where there are a lot more Chinese restaurants than you’d think, and other than the staff I don’t recall ever seeing Asians eating in them. You see lots of Mexicans eating in them, but then when you go to the Mexican places the only Mexicans you see are those working there and you don’t see any Asians.
So I’m convinced Asians don’t eat except for when they work at restaurants, and this makes me sad because many are nice people.
Glad to see I’m not the only one - the thought of grubby little paws in that thing nauseates and horrifies me.
N.B. - it would come in handy in a “cat” fight.
The only buffets I’ve ever not hated were Indian. Something about Indian food lends itself well to buffet (I’d assume it’s a combination of poorly descriptive menus and the fact that “buffet” Indian and “menu” Indian seem to usually be the same food).
Chinese buffets are usually a sort of horrible, but it’s a horrible I’ll brave now and again because I have a deep emotional need for cheap, chewy peppercorn beef and comically greasy eggrolls about once every 6-12 months.
I’m not a big fan of large child friendly buffets for this reason. Blegh!
Of course, good kids and good parents all have less than stellar moments. Sometimes they wear you down, and sometimes they are just worn down themselves. I’m just saying, dont assume from one encounter that it’s all bad news.
If this squicks you out, I do not recommend Chocolate Corral’s Golden Waterfall.